High-energy astrophysics articles within Nature

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  • Letter |

    Numerical simulations of the formation of binary black holes provide a framework within which to interpret the recent detection of the first gravitational-wave source and to predict the properties of subsequent binary-black-hole gravitational-wave events; the calculations predict detections of about 1,000 black-hole mergers per year once gravitational-wave observatories reach full sensitivity.

    • Krzysztof Belczynski
    • , Daniel E. Holz
    •  & Richard O’Shaughnessy

  • Letter |

    A sustained, neutral wind from the outer accretion disk is observed in the transient black hole V404 Cygni during a violent outburst; this unusual wind, which expands at one per cent of the speed of light and triggers a nebular phase once accretion drops sharply and the ejecta become optically thin, probably regulates the outburst evolution of the black hole.

    • T. Muñoz-Darias
    • , J. Casares
    •  & J. Rodriguez

  • Letter |

    Ultraluminous X-ray sources are thought to be powered by accretion onto a compact object; now the discovery of X-ray emission lines and blueshifted absorption lines in the high-resolution spectra of ultraluminous X-ray sources NGC 1313 X-1 and NGC 5408 X-1 shows that in each case the compact object is surrounded by powerful winds with an outflow velocity of about 0.2 times that of light.

    • Ciro Pinto
    • , Matthew J. Middleton
    •  & Andrew C. Fabian

  • Letter |

    Observations of repeated fast radio bursts, having dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with those of FRB 121102, show that the signals do not originate in a single cataclysmic event and may come from a young, highly magnetized, extragalactic neutron star.

    • L. G. Spitler
    • , P. Scholz
    •  & W. W. Zhu

  • Letter |

    Observations of V404 Cygni, an X-ray transient containing a black hole of nine solar masses and a companion star, show that optical oscillations on timescales of 100 seconds to 2.5 hours can occur at mass-accretion rates at least ten times lower than previously thought, suggesting that the accretion rate is not the critical parameter for inducing inner-disk instabilities.

    • Mariko Kimura
    • , Keisuke Isogai
    •  & Makoto Uemura

  • Letter |

    Fast radio burst FRB 110523, discovered in archival data, reveals Faraday rotation and scattering that suggests dense magnetized plasma near the source; this means that to infer the source of the burst, models should involve young stellar populations such as magnetars.

    • Kiyoshi Masui
    • , Hsiu-Hsien Lin
    •  & Jaswant K. Yadav

  • Letter |

    Global, three-dimensional simulations of rapidly rotating massive stars show that turbulence driven by magnetohydrodynamic instability is a promising mechanism for the formation of pulsars and magnetars, the latter potentially powering hyperenergetic and superluminous supernovae.

    • Philipp Mösta
    • , Christian D. Ott
    •  & Roland Haas

  • Letter |

    Persistent low-velocity baryonic jets have been detected from a supersoft X-ray source; the low velocity suggests that these jets have not been launched from a white dwarf, and the persistence speaks against the origin being a canonical black hole or neutron star, indicating that a different type of source must be implicated.

    • Ji-Feng Liu
    • , Yu Bai
    •  & Shri Kulkarni

  • Letter |

    The amplitude and sinusoid-like shape of the optical variability of the light curve of PG 1302-102 is best fitted by relativistic Doppler boosting of emission from a compact, steadily accreting, unequal-mass binary, which is consistent with archival ultraviolet data, and suggests the existence of a binary black hole in the relativistic regime.

    • Daniel J. D'Orazio
    • , Zoltán Haiman
    •  & David Schiminovich

  • Letter |

    A new class of ultra-long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) has recently been suggested, with durations in excess of 10,000 seconds, and now a supernova (SN 2011kl) has been found to be associated with the ultra-long-duration GRB 111209A, allowing a physical understanding of the nature of ultra-long-duration GRBs.

    • Jochen Greiner
    • , Paolo A. Mazzali
    •  & Karla Varela

  • Letter |

    A distinct hard-X-ray emission component is reported within the central four parsecs by eight parsecs of the Galaxy; this emission is more sharply peaked toward the Galactic Centre than is the surface brightness of the soft X-ray population, and all the interpretations of this emission pose significant challenges to our understanding of stellar evolution, binary formation and cosmic-ray production in the Galactic Centre.

    • Kerstin Perez
    • , Charles J. Hailey
    •  & Andreas Zoglauer

  • Letter |

    Analysis of X-ray data of galaxy clusters shows that turbulent heating of the intracluster medium is sufficient to counteract the radiative energy losses from the medium.

    • I. Zhuravleva
    • , E. Churazov
    •  & N. Werner

  • Letter |

    High-resolution radio imaging of the γ-ray-emitting nova V959 Mon, hosted by a white dwarf and its binary companion, shows that gaseous ejecta are expelled along the poles as a wind from the white dwarf, that denser material drifts out along the equatorial plane, propelled by orbital motion, and that γ-ray production occurs at the interface between these polar and equatorial regions.

    • Laura Chomiuk
    • , Justin D. Linford
    •  & Gregory B. Taylor

  • Letter |

    X-ray pulsations with an average period of 1.37 seconds have been detected from a known ultraluminous X-ray source hitherto thought to be a black hole; the pulsations instead unequivocally identify the source as an accreting magnetized neutron star ten times brighter than any previously known.

    • M. Bachetti
    • , F. A. Harrison
    •  & W. W. Zhang

  • Letter |

    The detection of 56Co γ-ray emission from the supernova 2014J proves that type Ia supernovae result from a thermonuclear explosion of a carbon–oxygen white dwarf or of a pair of merging white dwarfs.

    • E. Churazov
    • , R. Sunyaev
    •  & M. Renaud

  • Letter |

    The discovery of two stable peaks at frequencies with a ratio of 3:2 in the power spectrum of X-ray emission from the brightest X-ray source in galaxy M82 suggests that, if the relationship between frequency and mass that holds for stellar-mass black holes can be extended to intermediate masses, the black hole believed to be the source of the emission has a mass approximately 400 times that of the Sun.

    • Dheeraj R. Pasham
    • , Tod E. Strohmayer
    •  & Richard F. Mushotzky

  • Letter |

    A study of 76 radio-loud active galaxies shows that the magnetic field in the bipolar jet that emanates from each galaxy is tightly correlated with the luminosity of the accretion disk; the jet-launching regions of these galaxies are therefore thought to be threaded by dynamically important magnetic fields that will affect the properties of the accretion disks.

    • M. Zamaninasab
    • , E. Clausen-Brown
    •  & A. Tchekhovskoy

  • Letter |

    Circularly polarized light is unexpectedly detected in the afterglow of γ-ray burst GRB 121024A measured 0.15 days after the burst, and is shown to be intrinsic to the afterglow and unlikely to be produced by dust scattering or plasma propagation effects.

    • K. Wiersema
    • , S. Covino
    •  & R. Willingale

  • Letter |

    The observation of non-uniformly distributed titanium emission in the interior of Cassiopeia A, a core-collapse supernova, is an indicator of asymmetries in the stellar explosion and provides strong evidence for the development of low-mode convective instabilities in such supernovae.

    • B. W. Grefenstette
    • , F. A. Harrison
    •  & W. W. Zhang

  • Letter |

    Precision timing and multiwavelength observations of a millisecond pulsar in a triple system show that the gravitational interactions between the bodies are strong; this allows the mass of each body to be determined accurately and means that the triple system will provide precise tests of the strong equivalence principle of general relativity.

    • S. M. Ransom
    • , I. H. Stairs
    •  & K. Stovall

  • Letter |

    Cycles of electron capture and β− decay involving neutron-rich nuclei at a typical depth of about 150 metres are found to cool the outer crust of a neutron star by emitting neutrinos while also thermally decoupling the surface layers from the deeper crust; this mechanism has been studied in other astrophysical environments, but has not hitherto been considered in neutron stars.

    • H. Schatz
    • , S. Gupta
    •  & M. Wiescher

  • Letter |

    Doppler-shifted X-ray emission lines from highly-ionized atoms, appearing together with radio emission from the relativistic jets of the black-hole candidate X-ray binary 4U 1630-47, indicate that the X-ray emission lines arise in a jet travelling at approximately two-thirds the speed of light and imply that the jet contains baryons.

    • María Díaz Trigo
    • , James C. A. Miller-Jones
    •  & Tasso Tzioumis

  • Letter |

    A neutron star with a low mass companion star was observed at different times as a millisecond pulsar powered either by the rotation of its magnetic field or by the accretion of mass, demonstrating the evolutionary link between these two classes of pulsars, and probing the short timescales on which the transitions between the two states may occur.

    • A. Papitto
    • , C. Ferrigno
    •  & G. F. Wong

  • Letter |

    The X-ray spectrum of the soft-γ-ray repeater SGR 0418+5729 is found to exhibit an absorption line, the properties of which depend strongly on the star’s rotational phase; this line is interpreted as a proton cyclotron feature and its energy implies a magnetic field ranging from 2 × 1014 gauss to more than 1015 gauss.

    • Andrea Tiengo
    • , Paolo Esposito
    •  & Giovanni F. Bignami

  • Letter |

    Two models (relativistic disk reflection and absorption-dominated) can explain the pattern of X-ray emission from the galaxy NGC 1365, but here reflection arising close to a rapidly spinning black hole is shown to be the correct model.

    • G. Risaliti
    • , F. A. Harrison
    •  & W. W. Zhang

  • Letter |

    A mass-loss event 40 days before the explosion of the type IIn supernova SN 2010mc has been detected; the outburst indicates that there is a causal relation between explosive mass-loss events seen in some massive stars before their explosion and the onset of the supernova explosion.

    • E. O. Ofek
    • , M. Sullivan
    •  & O. Yaron

  • Letter |

    Two giant, linearly polarized radio lobes have been found emanating from the Galactic Centre, and are thought to originate in a biconical, star-formation-driven outflow from the Galaxy’s central 200 parsecs that transports a huge amount of magnetic energy, about 1055 ergs, into the Galactic halo

    • Ettore Carretti
    • , Roland M. Crocker
    •  & Sergio Poppi

  • Letter |

    Fluorescence of iron ions induced by an X-ray laser allows the relative oscillator strength for Fe xvii emission to be determined; it is found to differ by 3.6σ from the best quantum mechanical calculations, suggesting that the poor agreement between prediction and observations of the brightest Fe xvii line is rooted in the quality of the underlying atomic wavefunctions used in the models.

    • S. Bernitt
    • , G. V. Brown
    •  & J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia

  • Letter |

    Observations of hard X-rays from the remnant of supernova 1987A in the narrow band containing two direct-escape lines of 44Ti at 67.9 and 78.4 keV imply that this radiation had sufficient energy to power the remnant at late times; the initial mass of 44Ti is estimated to be near the upper bound of theoretical predictions.

    • S. A. Grebenev
    • , A. A. Lutovinov
    •  & C. Winkler

  • News & Views |

    The population of γ-ray bursts is sometimes enriched by perplexing events that challenge established theoretical models. Two teams get to grips with understanding one such event — the 'Christmas' burst. See Letters p.69 & p.72

    • Enrico Costa

  • News |

    No signs of exotic new physics have yet emerged from Europe's giant particle accelerator.

    • Geoff Brumfiel

  • News |

    A controversial cosmic-ray detector destined for the International Space Station will soon get to prove its worth.

    • Eugenie Samuel Reich

  • Letter |

    The X-ray source M33 X-7 hosts a rapidly spinning, 15.65M¤ black hole orbiting an underluminous, 70M¤ main-sequence companion in a slightly eccentric 3.45-day orbit. Hitherto, there has been no satisfactory explanation for the observed properties. These authors report simulations of evolutionary tracks which reveal that if M33 X-7 started as a primary body of 85M¤–99M¤ and a secondary body of 28M¤–32M¤, in a 2.8–3.1-day orbit, its properties can be consistently explained.

    • Francesca Valsecchi
    • , Evert Glebbeek
    •  & Vassiliki Kalogera

  • Letter |

    It is widely accepted that strong and variable radiation detected over all accessible energy bands in a number of active galaxies arises from a relativistic, Doppler-boosted jet pointing close to our line of sight. However, the size of the emitting zone and the location of this region relative to the central supermassive black hole are poorly understood. Here, the coincidence of a γ-ray flare with a dramatic change of optical polarization angle is reported, providing evidence for co-spatiality of optical and γ-ray emission regions and indicating a highly ordered jet magnetic field.

    • A. A. Abdo
    • , M. Ackermann
    •  & M. Sikora

  • Letter |

    Long duration γ-ray bursts mark the explosive death of some massive stars and are a rare sub-class of type Ibc supernovae. To date, central-engine-driven supernovae have been discovered exclusively through their γ-ray emission, yet it is expected that a larger population goes undetected. The discovery of luminous radio emission from the seemingly ordinary type Ibc supernova SN 2009bb, which requires a substantial relativistic outflow powered by a central engine, is now reported.

    • A. M. Soderberg
    • , S. Chakraborti
    •  & M. A. P. Torres

  • Letter |

    Type Ic supernovae have drawn attention since 1998 owing to their sparse association with long duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs). Although the GRB central engine generates ultra-relativistic jets, no relativistic outflows have yet been found in type Ib/c supernovae explosions. Here, radio observations reveal a mildly relativistic expansion in a nearby type Ic supernova, SN 2007gr.

    • Z. Paragi
    • , G. B. Taylor
    •  & B. Paczyński

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